Gary Kirsten says he is not considering a full-time coaching position

Not many had expected that the Virat Kohli-Anil Kumble relationship will reach such a dead end that the latter would resign. But that happened as Kumble unceremoniously quit from his position as the head coach of India two days after the Indian team left for the Caribbean Island, a tour for which Kumble’s 1-year tenure was extended by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI)

And ever since India’s highest wicket-taker in Tests and the world’s third highest wicket-taker in the same format announced his resignation, BCCI extended the date for applying for the post to July 9. Former Team India director Ravi Shastri threw in his hat for the post yesterday. And amidst the on-going selection process, which has to come to a conclusion before India’s tour of Sri Lanka, many opined that Gary Kirsten, under whom India won the 2011 World Cup, could be contacted for the same post once again. Kirsten successfully coached India from 2008 to 2011 but is doesn’t intend to resume a full-time position.

India Today quoted the South African as saying, “Thanks for your thoughtful consideration of my potential involvement with Indian cricket. I really did enjoy the experience. I’m not in a position currently to consider a full-time post across all formats.”

Ravi Shastri the frontrunner in the race 

Among the current candidates of the post are Virender Sehwag, Tom Moody, Richard Pybus, Dodda Ganesh, Lalchand Rajput and Ravi Shastri. However, one can assume the frontrunner among these to be Shastri, since he has the backing of Indian captain Virat Kohli, and also of few of the BCCI officials. It can also be recalled that Kumble was given a nod over Shastri in the selections last year, which had also resulted in an infamous verbal conflict between Shastri and Sourav Ganguly, in which the former blamed the latter for losing out on the post to Kumble.